We’re Not Broke: Closing the Corporate Tax Loopholes

It’s unlikely that you’ll ever hear Grover Norquist admit it, but Scottish philosopher Adam Smith in his seminal 1776 text, The Wealth of Nations, actually makes an argument in favor of a progressive tax. “It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion,” Smith wrote. Laissez-faire adherents happy to adopt Smith’s free market arguments seem to have conveniently forgotten that element of his philosophy over the last 200 years. In WE’RE NOT BROKE, directors Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce show how that might finally be changing. The film spells out the effects of a regressive U.S. tax policy so riddled with loopholes that multinational corporations with billions of dollars in annual revenue are somehow able to get away with paying no federal taxes. Thanks in part to the Occupy Wall Street movement, tax inequalities—admittedly not the world’s sexiest issue—are finally gaining attention in public discourse. Reasonably informed people have likely heard that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid an effective tax rate of about 15% last year, well below the roughly 35% rate applied to most working stiffs. WE’RE NOT BROKE makes the argument that there exists the untapped political will to change that. Following the screening Stranger Than Fiction Artistic Director Thom Powers spoke with Hayes, along with film subjects Lee Sheppard, James Henry and Jesse Drucker. Click “Read more” below for the Q&A.

Stranger Than Fiction: How did you and Victoria come to this topic? What drew you to it in the first place?

Karin Hayes: We came to this topic knowing nothing about it. I had not looked into corporate taxes before in my life. Our executive director, Charles Davidson, he had been following the issue with a passion and was very interested in how offshore tax havens affected the global economy. So he approached Vicky and asked her to write a book. She said, let’s do a film, we can do that much more quickly and reach more people, perhaps. He said, okay, I’ve never done a film before. So he said go ahead, and that’s how we started.

STF: Lee, what does it mean to have a film like this that brings all of these disparate elements together?

Lee Sheppard: It’s fascinating for us, because I work for a publication that talks to policy makers and talks to tax professionals, but it does not talk to ordinary people most of the time. So it’s nice to be able to relate this all. It was actually a dream of our founder, 40 years ago, to be able to communicate with ordinary people. Actually, he was very exercised when he founded the thing that oil companies were not paying their taxes. But they were sort of the tip of a large iceberg. But it was always his dream to be able to communicate this kind of thing, but it is hard. What this film does is boil down a lot of difficult concepts to nice graphics and nice shooting in an understandable and interesting format.

STF: Where do you think this issue is in an election year? Is it going to make the radar of this election, or not?

James Henry: It’s interesting. Just a month ago Obama announced that he was seeking more corporate tax cuts. And we have the Republicans, of course, proposing the zero percent tax rate as we saw in the film. Two weeks after Obama announced his plan, the UK announced another corporate tax cut. And Japan just announced another tax cut. So this is turning into a kind of global arms race. And its heading toward an end state where the state has to rely on taxes on labor and on sales, unavoidable taxes. And the corporate elite and shareholders are able to avoid taxes using offshore devices and lots of other devices. That’s not the kind of society we really want to end up with. I’m happy that this film was made, because it’s hard to talk about taxes, you’d rather watch paint dry. People’s eyes glaze over. And there was an incredible connection made with the US Uncut people that allowed this issue, which is really fundamental to the future of our democracy—the battle for our government that’s now going on. People who see the film, I think their eyes are opening up, and they’re thinking that this is not just boring.

Jesse Drucker: I’m not sure if this is an issue that’s ready to take off in terms of the general public being aware of it, or it being part of the campaign. But I do think that the parallel to the Occupy Wall Street movement to me is extremely interesting. James actually summed this up very well near the end of the film. I think a lot of people in this room, like me, are fairly cynical about the ability of the public to be able to affect a political debate. As someone who has written a little over the years about income inequality, this was an issue that, until six or eight months ago, you were hard-pressed to read much about outside the pages of Pravda, maybe. What the Occupy Wall Street movement has shown is that when lots of people take to the streets for long periods of time, it really can make a difference. It’s not clear to me what’s going to happen six months from now in terms of policy around income inequality, but it is part of the debate now every single day. It’s not that it just wasn’t this much of a part of the debate before, it wasn’t part of the debate at all. And now it’s a huge part of the debate. It is an interesting lesson that shows if there’s some kind of popular awareness of these issues and there is a mass protest that there actually is a chance that it could be a part of policy discussions.

Audience: Could you talk a little about transaction taxes, and if that is a way to go?

Sheppard: That is something we need to do for a variety of reasons. The Europeans are doing it now, they’ve got a European Union plan, and France is going to introduce one. There are little financial transaction taxes around the world. Oddly enough, some of them are in the countries that are regarded as very friendly to securities trading like Britain, Singapore and Hong Kong. What it is is a teensy weensy tax every time somebody trades a security. It is collected at the clearing house. I’m completely for it, I’ve written articles advocating it. It’s a very efficient way to collect revenue, because you just clip it off at the clearing house when you do the transaction. The other thing is that it would discourage a lot of disturbing practices that are going on in the securities markets, like high-frequency trading, because it basically raises the cost of trading by a little bit. But it’s a thing that you can adopt pretty quickly. We actually have one here, a little one that funds the SEC. It’s a very doable thing for revenue and for reasons of fixing some things that are going on in the financial markets that are not a good idea. Does it take care of deficit-type problems? Or can you pay for occupying Afghanistan or something with it? No, not unless you go higher on it. If you want to take care of the deficit right now repeal the Bush tax cuts. A lot of the deficit is attributable to that.

Henry: The so-called Tobin Tax, it’s basically known as the Robin Hood tax. The people that are opposed to it are the big banks. The top six banks in the United States control about 85% of the international currency markets, including those in the UK and abroad. When Europe started talking about introducing this thing, it’s a perfect example of the politics of this. Treasury Secretary Geithner flew all around Europe lobbying against this tax. The worst thing in the world would be to have the Europeans go off on their own and try to adopt this tax alone. There are a lot of things that we could do with the tax system that require global cooperation. But these corporations are the only ones that are effectively organized across borders, and that’s one issue we have to address.

Drucker: There’s a lot of very complicated things that need to be done, but then there are simple things like letting the Bush tax cuts expire, which would raise a lot of revenue. One of the difficult things in this area is that it’s of tremendous public interest, but if you look at a lot of public interest areas like the environment or poverty or reproductive rights, there are, with varying degrees of public funding, fairly well organized public interest groups and lobbys in Washington and around the country that are on the public’s side. There’s virtually no funded public interest lobby in Washington on tax equity issues. There’s Citizens for Tax Justice, but it’s a tiny organization with virtually no funding. There really isn’t an organized lobby on the other side of transfer pricing. The only people that really understand these issues and lobby on them are on one side, for better or for worse. That’s a very important issue, and maybe one that will change with a film like this.

Audience: Do you think there’s a limit on focusing just on the issue of tax evasion? Isn’t it more of a systemic problem? One of the thing about Occupy was that it recognized the fact that what’s driving these corporations are shareholder expectations. Wouldn’t a more transformative view take on more complicated issues?

Hayes: That’s an interesting point. With the film, there’s so many different levels to the issue and to the problem that we bring some of them up, like corporate money in politics. But in terms of exploring all the different levels of it, it’s a much longer conversation. Hopefully the film can serve as a jumping off point to talk about some of those things.

Sheppard: The idea that corporations are only answerable to shareholders is actually a relatively new idea. It only dates from the late 80s when some business professors came up with it and leveraged buyout guys ran with it. We do have to get back to a notion that if you’re a big, giant company you serve something else. Stuff like rescuing General Motors actually helps focus this. Because you say, why did we do it? Well, because this thing had a lot of employees and was responsible to a lot of communities, and we couldn’t let it go down. But defining that thing to somebody other than its shareholders—to its communities and employees—is necessary. There is hope for us, but it takes bad economic times to get there. Bad economic times also focuses attention on taxes too, because in good times, everybody thinks they’re going to get rich and everybody thinks they’re going to be one of the people who pays only 15% taxes or something like that. Tax is the main relationship that people have with their government. Tax is also the main relationship that corporations have with their government. And corporations have a government charter—a state government charter, admittedly. But they exist only because governments let them exist.

Related Film

Great essay, Thom. Many of us who write about books, serious literary fiction and literature in translation in particular, feel the same way; it’s a complaint commensurate with the shift/decline in print media.

Don’t discount blogs though. At least in the book world there are a lot of avid writers not only picking up where the old mainstream media left off, but finding new ways to critique and engage books (and pushing the blog format) – new online literary journals are popping up too, for the very same reason that there are more filmmakers: technology has reduced the barriers to entry. And now, former professional critics are becoming online critics, paid or not, and enjoying the freedom of the format and the connection with their audience that rarely existed in print. The result is an eclectic and vibrant mix of voices and I’d assert that if there’s an audience for doc films, which there is, then there’s the potential at least for the same sort of renaissance in doc-film criticism.

Bud Parr, blogger,
Chekhov’s Mistress
Words Without Borders

David Van Taylor

Nice going, Thom!

I’ve bemoaned the sad state of docu criticism on many occasions, but never really considered that there might be an alternative. Reading your piece made me realize what a boon reliably in-depth and insightful criticism would be to my work (and others’).

Maybe you should contact Pat Aufderheide. Now that she’s successfully revolutionized copyright, perhaps she can help fix things up in this arena. But seriously, I bet her Center could make a real contribution.

Thanks for opening eyes and pushing the field forward.

dvt

Bill Jersey

Thanks for the thoughtful analysis.
Problem is that we are dealing with “the Tyranny of Large Numbers”
When I was doing Network television in the early 60’s there were 4 channels- and a push from the FCC to do “ed B’castin” How does one do justice now to the abundance of programming bombarding us.
and more importantly-What in our contemp society encourages reflection, much less contemplation- we believe the lies because it’s easier than searching out the truth- and if they confirm our assumptions- so much the better.
But I, like you ,and thousands of others soldier on—because even if unwanted or ignored- the pursuing of truth beauty and justice is our way of being in the world and I for one have no intention of changing course.
Bill Jersey

Sean Farnel

great essay Thom.

As a smalltown boy my own love of cinema was heavily reliant on film criticism. I didn’t have access to many of the films I was reading about (via by Pauline Kael, Ebert, and especially J. Hoberman, when I could find a Village Voice in Northern Ontario), but the writing fueled my interest and passion, and eventually led me to film school.

In Toronto, our best film critic, Geoff Pevere, become quite addicted to docs, and wrote incisively about them. I tangibly noticed what a difference it made in developing audience interest for the form here. Unfortunately we lost him to the Book Section!

But, I agree with Rosenbaum that sites like ROUGE (which is excellent) are picking up the critical slack, even if industry gossip sites continue get most of the hits.

Robyn

Wow, this sounds great. Wish I had been there. Ever since I read her autobiography Dust Tracks on the Road, I have been obsessed with ZNH!

Andrew Berends

Also deserving a mention: the first Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund Awards. Perhaps the fanciest documentary party ever, or, as one of the grantees commented, the scruffiest Gucci party ever. Not scruffy at all though.

Shashwati

Hey Thom, when are you going to head East and check out all the great stuff being made in East Asia? can’t you come to the Iron Horse, the Golden Horse or something?

I spend most of my time reading and reviewing books, and interviewing authors. Engaging with the printed word is simply much more stimulating than watching 90% of the movies that are currently served up to the public..of the 10% that are worth thinking and writing about, I’d say most are documentaries…

This is, as you say, an interesting field in which to practice criticism; given the state of today’s media however, few are likely to be hired based on any particular knowledge of the documentary genre.

Good criticism is a function as much of what is criticized as of how the critic writes…and talented critics, when they have a choice, will always seek out the most challenging material, regardless of which medium it may appear in.

Tom Hall

I saw VSPRS in Paris in October 2007 (on my honeymoon), and its was GREAT; I had no idea this was happening! Big fan of Sophie’s… glad to see PERVERT’S GUIDE get a run… and no idea she had done a VSPRS film…

Thanks for the update, Thom!

Deanna Kamiel

Great piece, Thom. Essential. A new doc criticism is necessary if only to encompass documentary filmmaking in countries like China, India, Africa and eastern Europe. Jia Zhangke, for example—Useless, 24 City—says he makes non-fiction films to stop the disappearing of images and stories and landscapes, endemic to postwar Chinese history.

Many thanks,

Deanna Kamiel

paula longendyke

Thanks Raphaela for your account of the festival. I read evey word and felt like I was there. You and Thom are the best. Hope Kevin and I will get to see you soon at IFC for a screening!
Happy New Year
Paula

Sean

Beautiful evening. I especially enjoyed the screening of the 12-minute short on “The First World Festival of Negro Arts” I loved how Greaves captured the optimism of that early period of African independence so well.

It was initially disappointing to see so many empty seats in that room the other night, for this will certainly turn out to be one of the real cinema-going treats of 2009, but the post-film Q&A;felt more intimate because of it (although that one dude telling Peter Davis what he did and didn’t stage was… well, I would rather not get into that right now).

Lucky for us, and shame on everyone else for missing out (though maybe Cannes had something to do with that?). It sounds like there are no immediate plans for Icarus to release the Middletown series in a more affordable DVD boxed set edition, but maybe if enough of us complain it will kick them/someone else into gear. After having only seen Seventeen and Second Time Around, this already stands tall as the Decalogue of nonfiction. I might consider lopping off a finger to see the others. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

Nick

It was mildly disappointing, I suppose, that the theater wasn’t jam-packed, but the real disappointment is that these films aren’t available on DVD. In an age when EVERYTHING is available for download or rental or Netflix, it’s inexplicable that we shouldn’t all be able to order up these six beauties with the touch of a button (and, okay, maybe a credit card).

As for the so-called ‘argument’ about what was staged and what wasn’t—with all due respect, you missed the point. It wasn’t that anything was staged, and no one, not I, who got the conversation started, and not the other dude in the row behind me (who I think is the dude to whom you’re referring), was suggesting that any scenes were staged, but merely the rather obvious fact that the actions of the subjects of documentary films are of course altered by the presence of the camera.

(My point, and I am happy to make it again, and complete it, is that the scene where the couple talks about how much money the guy spends on his stamp collection was in particular affected by the camera’s presence; that without a camera there, it is likely these two may not have recognized how silly and wonderfully trivial the conversation was; that they might not have laughed so charmingly about the whole thing… I think it’s one of the strongest scenes in a very strong film, and the moments of acute self-consciousness on both their parts contributes to the scene being so terrific.)

And by the way, not that it matters (and it doesn’t), but I happen to know that Peter Davis agrees with me on the larger point. Other families talked politics at the dinner table; as much as Dad may like to think we talked about politics too, what we really talked about was stuff like this.

John G

Nice synopsis of the panel. It’s interesting that journalists trapped in the world of mainstream media have a very difficult time of portraying the news and the underlying message due to the pressures of the companies they work for. grand rapids lasik

sooran

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Peter Davis

My vote for a great sports documentary goes to Blood, Sweat and Gears directed by Nick Davis

Nina Seavey

4TH AND GOAL – Coming soon. Sometimes the best is yet to happen.

Sloane Cooper

Best Sports Doc? Blood Sweat + Gears Directed by Nick Davis

judith Helfand

Thanks Thom for creating the CLIFF NOTES for the new indie distrib frontier. much much appreciated!! xo

Sarah Miller

I was at that IFP conference panel too and found it really fascinating. Thanks for filling me in on the TIFF and MoMa events. This is such a hot topic right now!

Andrew Catauro

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait would be near the top of my list; and maybe Speedo! (Why not)

Racing Dreams would also be worth some discussion—a great recent entry in the motorsports doc canon.

Patti Villegas

One of my faves is Quantum Hoops directed by Rick Greenwald.

Eddie Rosenstein

How about that little diddy, “OLYMPIA”, by Leni Riefenstahl?

Admin

STF should start a dvd/streaming video platform!

Admin

“The box office on MRS GOLDBERG should be higher – except most of the tickets are at senior citizen prices.”

Hah! Great piece, Thom.

Laura Poitras

Raphaela & Thom,
We are all so happy for you both and expect to be updated on the big news.

Raphaela was radiant last night!

Laura

Carolina

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!!

Rabbi Eva Goldfinger

What do you mean ‘uncharacteristic’ profanity. Don’t be fooled by that sweet face . Bez looks like he’s saying “Thank you very much, but I would have preferred the warmth and comfort of ‘inside’ rather than being forced to endure the cold wintry American weather. Ah, but in the last two photos he seems more reconciled and perhaps comforted by being embraced in dad’s arms and snuggling up against mom’s warm breasts.

What an amazing production! Hope you will reap lots of benefit from your work…..

Looking forward to seeing you in Toronto (I hope) later this year.
Love,
Eva

Dima, Anastasia and Nica

Congratulations! Having recently concluded similar negotiations, albeit with the use of drugs (on the part of the father of the deal), we are glad to hear that yours was successful and not especially protracted, though, it probably did not seem that way at the time.

Congratulations to Thom, Raphaela, Bez and the Powershausen families!!!Wishing you health, quick recovery and the occasional bit of sleep.

Cristina and Dominique

What a production!!!!!
Without a doubt the best STF experience! Besos to both and congratulations!!!!

Shelley Powers

What a cutie! (no Thom, I was talking about Bez)This newest little addition is oh-so-lucky to be on board with a such great team. Welcome Bez!!

Daphne :0)

What a beautiful baby!!

Kyla Dunn

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! What wonderful news! Welcome to the world, Bez! Well, if you’re not ready to compete with Nina Davenport on the home-documentation front, maybe you could just do a Nikita Mikhalkov and film him once a year on his birthday! xoxo

ale and danish

!!congratulations to the powershausen clan!! fantastic work on the delivery, rafferty of my heart! can’t wait to meet Bez soon

Annemarie Jacir

Congratulations to both of you!! Wonderful news! Mabrook!!

Mark Crilley

Congratulations, Thom and Raphaela. That lucky little guy’s got an incredible life ahead of him guaranteed, courtesy of two of the coolest parents he could’ve hoped for.—mark

Teri

You used the BEST Doula in all of Brooklyn. Congrats on the birth !

Heidi and John Hood

Pleased to meet you Bezalel!
You brought your charms into a really terrific family…AND you sure will woo your singing Grandmother.
We wish all of you lots of love and hugs!

Erin Donovan

Too cute! Congratulations to your family

Maureen O’Shea

Congratulations and Best Wishes Welcome Bez

Grandma and Pappa Powers (Thom’s mom and dad)

We sit here with tears streaming down our faces as we first see our beautiful grandson, Bez, held by his daddy and mommy.
How blessed you are, Thom and Raphaela, and both families too, to have this precious gift of life in our midst. We laughed out loud when we saw the doula’s name was Meghan, the very Irish name we’d chosen had a second daughter been added to our family of Thomas, Patrick, Jr and Maureen. And so the greatest journey ever begins for Bez and his parents.

With hearts bursting with joy and gratitude to God, we send you our love.

Uncle PJ

Congrats, bro and sis! Such a beautiful baby. Shelley and I can’t wait to see him in NY in a few weeks.

Is it true that there is a bidding war for the Director’s Cut of the Bris?

Anna Kreditor

Raphaela looks beautiful and glowing:) Great job, guys:)

roger Berkowitz

Welcome Bez! And Mazel Tov to your parents. WE can’t wait to see all of your joyous faces in person

R

Joe Terrasi

Tremendous! Congrats.

Maria Luise

I have a feeling……. that Bez was already very present at our lunch last Sunday and – even more so -in the afternoon.
Please come soon to the farm and stay long!

Abbracci,
ML and Horst

Nina Davenport

OHMYGOD THAT IS THE SWEETEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i love the name!!!!!!!
so feminist too!!!!
can’t wait to meet him!!!
jasper loves him already.

Alex T

Dear Bez,

Mazel tov! You couldn’t have picked a finer pair of parents to, er, represent you. Or to develop you? Make you manifest, express you—whatever they did, Powers and Raphaela did it beautifully! We can see that you’re a serious fellow, but we do hope you take the time to savor these first few days.

I’m so excited for you both, you all three, and I can’t wait to see you. Congratulations and love.

Helen Leis

Raphaela and Thom—Congrats and so glad everyone is doing well! Can’t wait to meet Bez and welcome him to the world—enjoy your precious miracle!

Love,
Helen

Brian Geldin

Congratulations Raphaela and Thom! Will Bez be moderating the next Q&A

Suni and Stephan

We are absolutely thrilled for you three.

Welcome to the world little Bez—many kisses await you.

Suni and Stephan

Jeanne

Congratulations! So much has happened since I was first introduced to you two. I can’t imagine two better parents for this lucky boy.

Best,
Jeanne

Ry

A big big congrats!!
I look forward to meeting him.

Andrew Rossi

So cute! Congrats!

Russ Baker

Marvelous accomplishment! My best to baby, mother, and father. Also my nomination for “best press release.”

Being a parent requires a sense of humour. I would like to share with you a wonderful editor’s message from a Toronto parent magazine. It goes like this:

A parent’s job description, if it was advertised:

Parents Wanted – Apply Within:
Long-term team players needed for challenging permanent work in a chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work days, evenings, weekends and 24-hour shifts on-call.

Responsibilities:
The rest of your life! Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a buck mule and go from 0 – 60 mph in 3 seconds flat, in case screams are not someone crying wolf. Must maintain character and coordinate homework projects. Must be willing to be indispensible one minute and embarrassed the next. Must assume final; complete accountability for the quality of the end product.

Possibilities for advancement:
None! Your job is to remain in the same position for years, constantly updating your skills without complaining.

Salary:
None! You pay them. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18, of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left.

Benefits:
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays, and no stock options are offered, this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, lots of laughter, and free hugs and kisses.

Raphaela and Thom, you are obviously up for the job! Mazel Tov!

All our love,

Stella, Kobi and Eitan

James Longley

How wonderful! The world is already a better place. Congratulations, Thom and Raphaela!

Irina Konon

The fruit of creation of your love that you have for one another is the perfect joy of having that baby boy cuddling warmly in your arms. Congratulations on the birth of your baby boy, BEZALEL!!)

My Best wishes!
XOX

Debraj Ray

Dearest Thom and Rafaela

Warmest congratulations!

Thom, your fathering an infant truly puts this event in the STF category. (You would probably respond that it’s Bezness as usual.)

Much love to both of you and Bez.

Debraj

Zeva (mother of twins)

Congratulations Thom and Raphaela!
He’s beautiful and best of all—he’s only one!

Veronica Velez-Burgess

felicitaciones! i hope our boys can meet one day soon!

Ilona & Andy Mack

Congratulations to you all – what wonderful news! And big big CHAPEAU for doing it all without silly interventions and drugs!!!

Welcome to the beautiful exciting world, Bez!

Lots of love from London

Helen Erlich and Barry Razmov & Families – Thorn

Mazel Tov !!!!!! We are all very excited by this wonderful news. Way to go Raphaela and Thom. We know that your parents, grandparents and all family members are elated. We look forward to seeing you in Toronto later this year.

BEZ!!! Congratulations Thom and Mrs. Thom! I have indeed been lost in the Sundance fog, but this is definitely the best news of the week. Very cool. Wishing you the best of luck and at least a little sleep.

dusty

Howard Weinberg

And the winner for the best photo layout and script introducing a new actor with superb supporting roles for his parents…Bez! Congratulations! —Howard

Gita Pullapilly

Congratulations! What a gorgeous addition to the family!

Matt Smith

Beautiful baby! I hope the furniture is ready. Can’t wait to meet Bez.

Love,
Matt, Alicia and family

Pat Aufderheide

Congratulations on the cutest baby ever and pretty much the best baby announcement too! Enjoy every minute!

Roli Chaturvedi

Congratulations once again !!
This is the most unusual and a beautiful welcome note…would love to see him sometime.

Birender & Kulvir

Wow, how amazing. Congrats to the whole family!! Bez is adorable. Hold him tight, because he is going to grow up before you know it. We loved the announcement. Can’t wait for regular updates. Hope to catch up with you guys in the summer. All our love,

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On Wednesday, Kenner paid a visit to STF where the film played strongly on the big screen. Introducing the night, STF host Thom Powers noted that it was somehow fitting to hold the screening on the day when Lent begins “because this film will make you want to give up all food.”

Just came across this. Great idea, especially presenting work from radio, audio, photography, writing etc. Needed. We have noticed that some festivals are including audio documentary. Our little Fest in Dayton does that. Will tell our audio buddies out here and in the City to submit work.

Be sure to notify the SALT Institute in Portland Me. and the Duke Center for Documentary Studies…each have a focus on writing, audio and photo.

Cute baby photo.

cheers,
julia

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Hi Raphaela,
The link for the Season pass doesn’t seem to be working. Please let me know how I can purchase it.
Thanks and looking forward to another great season of STF.
Happy New Year!
Charlotte

Diego Mas Trelles

We have also the pleasure and the honour to show it in competition at Ronda International Film Festival.

Tom Hall

Planning to see almost all of these… great preview!

Betsy

Thanks for this! Recently read “And the Band Played On,” so am looking forward to “We Were Here” in particular.

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I am currently writing a story based on Ukrainian/Russian historical events showing Soviet oppression and acts of crimes against humanity that existed during the 30’s through the 90’s. People, on whose life experiences I am writing, are also dismayed, to say the least, of the last of interest or apathetic attitude toward this part of history. I am attempting to heighten awareness, but it will take an army of people along with myself to accomplish this. It can be done, but it will only be accomplished through book writing, cinema and documentaries. I am a new writer and would welcome support in bringing my book,and hopefully many others’ to completion. This would then be a sedgeway for encompassing “a lost era” and show the world a more complete history. I am an optimist by nature, and the story I am writing is showing a journey of those who suffered, but went on to success and fulfillment in their lives.
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Thom, Chris and I spent 4 years of home room and a couple of German classes together. He was the first guy I met at Terry Sanford (that I did already know as he went to another middle school. We laughed for 4 years and after college would have a beer or three at a local pub called the Highlander. And although I haven’t seen him in a few years I followed his work through his pictures and along with other Fayetteville natives and classmates on FB. Your words ring true. I will remember his smile and his work ethic. He was truly a unique soul and I find it hard to explain why it has hit me so hard. I sum it like this. Several years ago when my life seemed to be falling apart I ran into him in Fayetteville. He seemed to know that I was going through something and he said “Hey Holtet, let’s get beer.” Sadly we didn’t. But I have remembered that day for a long time. You just don’t get the chance too have friends like that in your life very often. He will be missed. Thank you for your words..

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Jean Manuel Beauchamp

This article written by Aaron Cael, while well-informed in its correct views of the film, is wrong in the lack of respect shown in its final sentence: “the game of international politics that will likely keep his grandfather imprisoned for life.”

While my grandfather is currently serving time in Paris, against all Geneva Conventions, without evidence against him, on behalf of the United States Government, the actions currently being taken by the President of Panama Ricardo Martinelli and the current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton make his safe return to Panama imminent. While it was supposedly assumed that the United States should have had no role to play after the completion of his sentence in Miami, all actions point the opposite, and Barack Obama’s current Democratic presidency has to make up for the Republican scheming in the respect of my grandfather’s case.

Despite the use of the word ‘likely’ in the final sentence of this review, this sentence not only provokes unnecessary drama to my requested participation in the screening, but it also takes part in the deception of the media that the film discusses at length by suggesting a continued lack of justice.

-Jean Manuel Beauchamp

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Mary Hunt

The trouble was, “16 in Webster Groves” wasn’t verité…. The producers came to town to film their (mistaken) hypothesis that 16-year-olds longed for adventure, but THESE 16-year-olds were a bunch of conformists who wanted a nice house and a nice family. They got the ages wrong— OLDER young people want that.

Apparently the producers didn’t have teens of their own, or didn’t pay attention to them.

As I recall, the film focused on large, impressive homes—not the tiny ranch house in which one of the most popular talking heads lived.

I had gone to Webster Groves High School a few years before “16 in WG” was filmed. It was a thrill to see the excellent photography capture the personalities of my teachers, and the self-satisfied energy of the Glee Club under the charismatic “Miss Rep,” singing, “This is my country, land of the free”—which I always found irritating.

But the manipulation and lazy political correctness of this TV show shaped my own writing and reporting in the opposite direction. Approach your subject with an open mind, gather information and viewpoints, and THEN tell your story.

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P.S. Berlinger and Sinofsky were robbed!

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Hey Tim. I just tried the Bowers link and it seems to be working now. Thanks for reading all.

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I want to echo some of the earlier comments – great job Rahul! Love that I can find a wrap-up of all recent doc news in this Monday Memo.

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Priyanshi

Hi Ken, An equally smart man such as yuorself should be able to engage in debate without misquoting the other person. At no stage did I refer to carbon trading as an innocuous tool, so please give me the courtesy of not putting words in my mouth. I spoke of it as a tool e.g a scalpel is a tool: hardly innocuous, and capable of being used for great good or great bad depending on how it is employed.It would also be good if you engaged in the discussion, and the different elements that need to considered, rather than bypassing the detail and pointing solely at polemics that agree with your position. Of the two webpages you provided, one wouldn’t load and you should read the other one more closely. The Greenwash Awards site comments that carbon trading has failed to reduce carbon emissions, because there are too many carbon credits in the system. Good comment but doesn’t that also identify a clear way of revising the system? I realise we’re in a throw-away society, but discarding the whole idea because it doesn’t work perfectly at the outset seems very hypocritical, especially when the problem has been identified.The same site goes on to say that business backed carbon trading and offestting as the main ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions –allowing them to evade actual cuts . I agree 100% that it is ridiculous if such a system allows business to keep polluting as usual . That’s why I clearly stated that any carbon trading tool needs to be coupled with methods addressing other parts of the problem (i.e. reducing emissions). Without doing that, and without realistic caps, a carbon trading system does absolutely nothing.In flagging these concerns and again I freely acknowledge that there are concerns and issues that need to be addressed with carbon trading no one has yet answered my question above: i.e. what is better: current world fossil fuel consumption PLUS burning forests, or current world fossil fuel consumption WITHOUT burning forests? As I also stated, it might not be perfect, but it’s a major step in the right direction *while* (and that’s a key word) the other parts of the problem are being tackled.Being informed is about more than accepting other views without question. Perhaps a bit more engagement and research would help from yuorself, rather than simply relying on what the web is telling you. If we wait for everything to be perfect, it will never happen. In the meantime, positive work is underway on ground in Aceh whether that is happening in an ideal world or not.Best wishes,Niall.

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I find this hoopla over the NC17 to be quite silly. Here’s the deal: the MPAA is an uanifr organization marked by poor priorities, terribly consistency, and rendered completely stupid by the fact that it’s actually run by the big studios. The application of the NC17 is inconsistent at best and irresponsible at worst, but let’s face it, Shame is very much and NC17 movie. It’s a movie for adults and not at all for young teens or children.The issue then becomes the stigma, which I reject completely. This is a capitalist world and in the end it all comes down to money. The kinds of films that traditionally get NC17 ratings are not big blockbusters. They’re usually films that would get limited advertising for a limited release anyway. And guess what, if Shame gets a lot of awards buzz and a lot of interest from mainstream viewers, advertisers and theatre chains will make sure to get in on that money. The fact is, most ordinary people don’t even know what the NC17 is, so any stigma is crap. Completely manufactured and amplified by the fact that there are so few NC17 movies, they are usually given the rating for sexual material, and the films that get the rating usually wouldn’t play outside of the four or five major markets anyway.

Wail

Hi Wayne,Yeah watching the soduim is, what I think, the first step in the right direction. You should at least feel your pressure in the ear going down by that. I would also recommend you to watch coffee and alcohol. I personally feel a correlation between my Meniere’s and Alcohol more than with coffee or salt. Let’s say, if I drink 2-3 beers on empty stomach (after work) I can bet that my ear is getting worse if not that night, than the next day. So, salt, coffee and alcohol. And smoke. Cigarette smoke is also well known to affect the ear. About the ringing in the ear: Tinnitus is very difficult to treat. I personally don’t know of anything except acupuncture. And that’s something, if you read my last article there, I am just trying out. Now with Acupuncture that’s one of these things: 1. You need a good Acupuncturer otherwise the symptoms will not improve 2. In traditional Chinese Medicine they treat Meniere’s with Acupuncture EVERY day you can guess that this is something very unlikely achievable for us here. So, for the ringing but also for the overall improvement of your Meniere’s I would say find a good acupuncturer and try to create a short, frequent treatment. With that I mean 3 times for 1/2 weeks. I had 2 treatments and my dizziness attacks (I had for some reason 4-5 last week) disappeared and I feel less pressure in my ear. I do still have Tinnitus and hearing loss is pretty bad. But I am going to write an entry about that experience soon Mate, good luck with that and let me know how you are going and write me your experiences!

Monica

Tarkovsky is my favourite dietorcr so I own all of his movies (all 7 of them) from Kino International to Criterion versions. I own the book that Stalker’s loosely based on, Roadside Picnic , and I’ve played the 3 PC games that were inspired by the film. :O)The reason behind why I’m not a Godfather fan is because I don’t like the Italian mob. Cosa Nostra et all really bother me because of the Italian cliche9s that has resonated throughout the decades and the whole living with your mother who cooks spaghetti for you, etc is an annoyance. I also hate the you mess with one of us you, mess with all of us ideal because I believe that everyone can fight their own battles, which is why I much prefer the Yakuza; they almost never get into fights because they’d end up in wars and bloodshed. I’m going to rewatch The Godfather one day just so I could watch the second at one point in my life. I’m told that the first two films are basically one long movie and that the third’s the epilogue. Again, I hate the Italian mob so I’ll need to get in the mood. But Goodfellas is a movie that I love. It’s not mainly about the riches and the power, it’s about the hard work that goes into being a footsoldier and that I can relate to.I also didn’t like Pacino in the first Godfather film; I thought that his performance was decent at best but also that his character would not have become the Godfather that he turned into because I didn’t see it in his character to become that. It was lacking the portrayal. But that’s just me, and now that I’m far more experienced in movie watching I may enjoy it more, especially its cinematogrphy.

Johanna Samuel

Hi Thom- I will also be there acquiring documentary films and selling our doc catalogue worldwide. Just acquired Joel Katz’s WHITE: A MEMOIR IN COLOR, Dani Menkin’s DOLPHIN BOY, Vic Sarrin’s DESERT RIDERS, David New’s TEACHING THE LIFE OF MUSIC, a film called THE LAST NAZI HUNTER, a new feature doc GREENWICH VILLAGE;MUSIC THAT DEFINED A GENERATION, “THEIR EYES WERE DRY”, Gabrielle Pfeiffer’s A POET ON THE FRONTLINE, THE HOUSE OF SUH,…and many more! Love to you and to Rafaella!!
Johanna.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)/johanna.samuel@gmail.com 416-566-2994

I saw both documentaries recently and they are absolutely excellent and so accurate about the reasons why so many Thai women end up with western husbands. Thailand is a hard country to live in if you are poor as there is no social service net, so you can’t blame the women doing what they do to help their children hopefully have a better life.

It was also nice to see a film that really did put the western men it followed in a good light, as it showed they were only trying to find someone to love which, let’s face it, isn’t a bad thing :)